Time-travel comes to life through the Classics Department at the OPS as pupils encounter what it was like to live in Greek and Roman times through a wealth of characters explaining family life, their sense of fashion, love of entertainment and sporting dramas, in a historical setting where danger is never far away.
Pupils will have already studied aspects of Greek and Roman life lower down the school in History before commencing Latin in Year 6, with a view to sitting Common Entrance in Year 8, and there is also a window of opportunity to learn Greek before progressing to senior school as well.
Why study Classics ?
It is all too easy to overlook the fact that Latin and Greek are the roots of our own language, accounting for three-fifths of the English still used today, and are very much the foundation of all Romance languages, including French, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
Classics provides a wealth of knowledge and involves a rich inter-disciplinary approach, including the study of language, literature, history, philosophy, art, archaeology, mythology and science. In studying the Greeks and Romans we are confronted with humanity’s quest to become civilised and truly human.
There is no other period in human history from which we can find out so much about life in those times as the Greek and Roman period and its huge influence in shaping modern civilisation and it is interesting to note how a host of recent movies demonstrate that the Classical World is very much in fashion: Gladiator, Troy, Alexander, and Clash of the Titans spring to mind, to name but a few. The most important reason in learning the languages is that they will give the individual access to some of the most enduring works of literature ever written, whether it be history, drama, poetry or prose.
The course we follow :
In Latin we follow the much revised and more colourful Cambridge Latin Course and take advantage of its wonderful electronic resources via our smartboards. These provide pupils with a wealth of documentaries that enhance the various textbooks’ material on the cultural themes of the different stages. Included are introductions to the stories and stages presented by characters from the Course, audio guidance for the model sentences and for each story, dramatisations of stories acted out along with subtitles if so desired, hundreds of interactive activities to consolidate grammar and understanding, and some very useful web-links. The Course also has an excellent website of its own, allowing pupils to test their mastery of vocabulary.
Greek is introduced using the excellent beginner’s booklet by Kristian Waite- an ISEB approved introduction.
Trips and Drama
In recent years pupils have been able to enjoy trips to St. Albans, Fishbourne Roman Palace and Bath. All have provided the enjoyment of a day out along with a number of museum based purposeful activities and educational workshops. There is also an annual Classics Assembly in front of the whole school. Most recent ones have been themed on Vesuvius, the Spartans and a debate on whether the Greeks were more beneficial culturally than the Romans. Occasionally drama on a bigger scale has been staged, including a year 6 production based on Ovid’s Metamorphoses and a scholars’ presentation of the Pyramus and Thisbe legend in Latin.
